Michael garland



(No Model.)

M GARLAND DRIVING LIVE ROLLS.

Patented Dec. 4, 1894.

UNI-TED A STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MICHAEL GARLAND, or BAY cITY,MIoHIeAN,Ass1e oR TO THE M.

4 GARLAND COMPANY, or SAME PLACE.

DRIVINGLIVE-ROLLSL SPEGIFIGATIONlforming part of Letters Patent No. 530,333, dated December 4, 1 894;

Application filed August 8, 1 894. Serial No. 519,748. (No model.)

the saws, in certain kinds of sawing machines,

and such as used under various other conditions.

it has been usual to drive a series of live-rolls by means of a drive-shaft, arranged transversely to the axes of the rolls, and adjacent to one set of their ends, and sets of bevel gears, or pinions, forming engagements between said drive-shaft and said ends, or journals, of

the series of rolls. It has also been customary to drive a series of live-rolls by a system of chain-belts, or link-belting, arranged so that one belt, banded from the first roll of a set to the third, and. running in tangential engagement with the second, or intermediate roll (all the rolls being provided with sprocketwheels for the chain, and said first roll being positively driven by a link-belt from a driveshaft) would drive both thesecond and third rolls of the series; and so that by another chain belt banded from the opposite end, of said third roll to afifth, and running in tangential engagementwith the sprocket-wheel of the fourth roll would drive saidfourth and fifth rolls; and so on, throughout a series of live-rolls of indefinite length; but in these usual, and in all known, modes of impartinga like speed and the samedirect'ion of motion, to a series of rolls there has been considerable complexity and expense (both,as to first cost, and as to keeping in repair) involved in the driving mechanism, or devices, especially where a great many rolls have been involved in the series to be driven from one source of power. Furthermore, it has been quite difficult to arrange a series of rolls out of parallelism with each other, as in the caseiof a As is well-known to those skilled in the at,

series of rolls of about equal lengths mounted on a frame arranged, or made, in a curved line, or running in opposite curves (or of ogee form), and in other shapes outside of a right line. I propose, by my improvement, to provide a means, or mode, of driving a series (of any length) of live-rolls, mounted in either a straight,or an irregularly shaped, supporting framg which shall" be" exceedingly simple, economic ofconstruction, durable, efficient, and not liable to undue Wear, or wastage of the motive power, and to these main ends, and objects, my invention consists in the combination, with a series of rolls to be driven; and anysuitable prime motor-shaft, of a cable wheel mounted on said main or driveshaft; an endless rope,or chain cable; and a series of idler cablewheels, arranged alternately with, or between each pair of rolls, the said rope, or cable, being arranged to make a contacting bend partially around the suitably grooved portions of each of the live-rolls, and to be held in driving contact with such rolls by reason of its passage partially around one of the said intermediately located idler rope-wheels; all as will ,be hereinafter more fully explained, and as will be more particularly pointed out inthe claim of this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention relates to understand and practice the same, I will now proceed to more fully describe it by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which-- i A Figure 1. is a top view of a series, or system, of live-rolls provided with my improved means of driving the same. Fig. 2. is a sectional elevation of the same. Fig. 3. is a detail view, on an enlarged scale, of the peripherally grooved end portion of one of the rolls, showing more clearly the preferableform of the cable groove and the arrangement therein of the drive-rope, or cable. Fig. 4. is a partial side view of a modification.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 1. to 3.,

inclusive, A is a frame composed of two beams, or stringers, arranged in parallel lines and in about a horizontal plane; but in a crooked line, as shown; and in suitable journal-boxes, mounted on the upper edges, or tops, of these frame bars A, are journaled the opposite ends of a series, or number, of live-rolls B; in the case shown sixteen, though the number composing the series may, of course, be more or less. In the case shown, the parallel bars A,

. on the tops of which are mounted the series of rolls, are supported by the floor A of a mill, or other building, but this is not a matter material to my invention.

The rolls B. are shown as arranged equidistant; and intermediately of the successive pairs of rolls, are arranged idler rope-wheels A, that have their axles journaled in boxes a bolted to the under, or lower, sides of one of the parallel bars A., all as clearly seen, in the drawings.

b is a rope-wheel similar to those marked a, and having its axle journaled in a metallic stand, or short hanger b (see Fig. 2) which is boltgd to the under side of one of the stringers In a suitable frame-work E, that, as shown,

is located below the floor A and to one side of the right hand end of the live-roll frame A., are mounted (in suitable bearings) four, horizontally placed, shafts, 01,6, f and g. The shaft 01, carries a fast pulley c, that is supposed to be belted to the source of motive power, and on said shaft is also made fast a paper friction pulley, or wheel, 0 which runs in peripheral contact with, and drives a larger friction wheel, of metal, 0 keyed fast on the shaft e; and on this shaft is also made fast the driving rope-wheel 0 On the shafts f and g, are arranged, respectively, the idler rope-wheels c and 0 for purposes to be presently explained, and beneath the framework E, is a tightener wheel 0 which is vertically movable and may act either by the gravity of a weight, or be forced downwardly by screw shafts acting upon sliding boxes of the wheels shaft.

G, is the drive-rope, or cable, which is endless and has its upper run arranged to pass, ortravel, alternately over and very slightly ""around the grooved ends of a pair of the rolls B, and then underneath and partially around one of the intermediate idlers a, as best seen at Fig. 2. Following the line of the cable 9 from the roll B at the extreme right hand side of Fig. 2 (as a starting point) it will be seen that said cable passes from the top, of the grooved end portion of said roll, horizontally, to the top surface of the next roll to the left, and making an oblique descent therefrom, travels beneath the first one of the idlers a around which it makes nearly a half turn, ascending obliquely to the top surface of the first roll B of the next pair; and that the cable passes on in this intertwining fashion, first over a pair of rolls and thence beneath a deflecting idler a, until after reaching the last roll B, at the extreme left hand side of Fig. 2, it makes nearly a half turn around said roll, and passes thence beneath the idler b, which merely serves to depress this end, or portion, of the lower run of the endless cable well out of the way of the idler a. From idler b, the lower run of the cable passes to the other end of the system, where it first runs over the idler rope-wheel c and descending therefrom, is formed into a loop to support the tightener c"; the other leg of said loop passing vertically up to the rope-wheel c which is so arranged, relatively to the main drive-wheel 0 that the cable, in leaving wheel 0 passes thence partially around 0 and ascending thence up to the first mentioned roll B is forced to make about a three-quarter wrap, or turn, around the grooved periphery of said drive-wheel c and thus assure aperfect grip of the cable on this wheel.

The arrows of Fig. 2 indicate the direction of motion of the drive-cable G, and by reference to Fig. 1. it will be seen that the lower run of the cable G, which whenviewed in side elevation runs in a right line obliquely downward from the wheel b, (see Fig. 2,) to the wheel 0 runs in a right line that lies wholly outside of the roll frame A. during a portion of the length of said frame and in between the two bars A. of said frame during the rest of its length. That therefore, while the upper run of the cable follows the sort of ogee line of the long frame carrying the series of live-rolls, its lower run makes a short cut in a straightline from one to the other end of said crooked frame. This capacity to thus run the driving band, or cable, so to speak, in an irregular or curved, line at its upper run, and at the same time, in perfect working condition with every one of the rolls which it has to drive, while its lower run lies in a straight line, is due to the combination, in the manner shown, of the drive-cable G with the pairs of rolls and the depressing idlers, arranged intermediately of the pairs; and while I thus get an efficient driving action in the cable G, the latter is relieved of all needless turns, that would tend to unnecessarily wear the cable, and unnecessarily consume motive power in friction.

If the series of rolls to be driven be arranged in a straight frame, or follow a straight path, then, of course, the upper and lower runs of cable G would lie in the same vertical plane and still less friction would occur in the work ing of the system.

I am, of course, aware of the fact that an endless rope, or chain, has long ago, and often, been employed as a means of transmitting power and motion applied to it, at one point, to a rope-wheel or sheave on which it has acted, at another point; but in my improved contrivance for efiectuating the driving of a series of rolls, arranged in a plane, the cable is made to drive the whole series by contact ing with the upper (grooved) portion of the periphery of each roll, and is enabled to get a driving grip on each by reason of being slightly bent downwardly over the top of each roll, as hereinbefore described.

In the modification illustrated at Fig. 4., the intermediately arranged idler rope-wheels A,

x. A I

are arranged alternately with the live-rolls B, and hence each one of the latter is partially wrapped by the driving cable G. (or hugged by the cable) to a greater extent than 5 in the case shown in the other figures.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

As an improvement in r a system of cabledriven live-rolls, the combination, with a sero ries of rolls,mounted in a suitable frame, and formed, or provided, with rope-grooves, near one set of their ends; and a series of peripherally grooved idlers, arranged in said frame,

MICHAEL G LAND;

In presence of- A. B. LENNOX, M. L. OOURTRIGHT. 

